Write CVs that respond to needs of employers

Over the past 12 months we have explored how a continually evolving job arena delivers career opportunities and also creates barriers to progression.

We live in interesting, unprecedented and highly unpredictable times. Seeking new opportunities, facing increased competition and focusing on the bottom line, companies are either expanding or merging, rationalising and economising their operations through the application of technology, outsourcing, and strategic alliances. In such an environment, people find and lose jobs each day as companies restructure their workforces to position themselves better in the volatile new economy. Issues such as the need for intra-regional legislation to protect expatriates and ensure fairness and balance within localisation strategies, the need for a shift away from hiring against lowest price and within a trading context influence career decision making.

Other core factors that affect career-path planning and satisfaction embrace regional growth and the turbulence and instability within the markets, the whirlpool effect, alignment with protocols such as WTO, difficulties associated with assessing the value of human capital, the nature of company form and its influence on career satisfaction, company attitude to job titles and the impact this may have on job enrichment, avoiding being shaped by some job agencies and the difficulties associated with the hiring process, changes in technology and the demands placed on today's managers, incorrect business model causing bad hiring decisions, and in addition the impact of external pressure resulting in companies establishing hiring barriers and an uncertain dollar.

Key factor

We have frequently advised that the fundamental basis for success is planning. In fact, this is common sense, for you would not launch a product into any market without a carefully planned campaign. Execution and ultimately success of any campaign is contingent upon preparation and delivery. This is the same for career moves, for if you are going to have any success in what has become a difficult and complex regional job arena, then you must start with the product. You are the product!

How do you get a product to market? Well there are many components to any marketing strategy and an important member of the family is the product collateral. If badly written, too long and rambling or just uninteresting, then it will be of little use in any marketing campaign.

If you are the product, then one of your major collaterals is the CV. If it is important to use first-class materials for a successful market launch strategy, then why are so many CVs so badly prepared?

It is a pity that CVs cannot talk, because if they could then they might engage in interesting and insightful conversation with employers. But they can't talk, and can only communicate clues to future performance that get talked about in job interviews.

Simply put, the role of a CV is to tell the employer that you are capable of contributing to their business and that you have capability. The CV does not get you a new job, you do that at the interview. Once the CV has opened the door, it has fulfilled its purpose.

Fortunately, CVs do have a language of their own, for they say things to employers that make the difference between being called or passed over for a job interview.

Effective model

To be effective, it needs to be both you and employer-centred. Does it clearly present an appealing pattern of accomplishments? Does it stand out from the rest of the pack by communicating key messages about your past, present and future performance loudly and clearly to potential employers, in a form that is relevant to their needs?

One thing is certain, we have entered an era where jobs, careers, skill-sets, and employer-employee relations are increasingly unpredictable. The employment game has moved from seeking greater security and minimising risks to seeking greater opportunities and taking on more risks. The job you have today may disappear tomorrow. Between now and when you retire, you may have more than 10 different jobs and work in two or three different careers. And the skills you use today may become obsolete in another few years.

As a result, individuals must increasingly take responsibility for their own career management from acquiring new skills and marketing themselves to alternative employers to taking greater on-the-job initiative. They must view themselves as self-directed economic entities who offer unique skill-sets that make significant contributions to employers' bottom lines. They must view employment situations as sets of client-professional relationships, rather than traditional employer-employee relationships. They must present themselves as professionals who enthusiastically take charge and produce results.

So, can you write a CV that responds to the needs of employers in today's economy under the backdrop of regional growth and rapid change? A CV that is competitive and talent oriented, because the best positions those that pay well and have a bright future go to those who are intelligent, well educated, skilled in the technologies of today and tomorrow, and behave like entrepreneurs.

In the talent-driven economy, technology defines and drives workplace skills. Individuals must constantly train and retrain in order to survive and prosper in today's fast-paced and demanding workplace. The talent-driven economy is very competitive, it's driven by highly entrepreneurial professionals who constantly focus on contributing to employers' bottom lines. Being employer and job centred, these individuals understand what skills are required to do their job and they acquire and use them accordingly.

The professional prepares a sound record of accomplishments which they articulate to prospective employers, and best of all they are capable of writing attention-grabbing CVs that are rich in the language of skills, experience and accomplishments.

The writer is the principal of career management and mentoring specialist Career Partners in the Middle East.